Delaware ownership & cpom for med spas
Corporate-practice-of-medicine limits on who may own an aesthetic practice. Below are the Delaware rules that govern it, each linked to its primary source. Monitoring and reference, not legal advice.
Ownership & corporate practice of medicine in Delaware
Delaware’s cited restriction runs through the PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION form. A corporation organized under Chapter 6 of Title 8 exists for the sole and specific purpose of rendering a single professional service, and its shareholders may be only individuals who are themselves licensed or otherwise legally authorized to render that same service. The chapter permits exactly one combination — medicine and podiatry — and expressly leaves untouched the professional relationship, the contract and tort liabilities, and the standards for professional conduct of the person rendering the service. These claims survey Chapter 6 alone and do not report on requirements elsewhere in Delaware law. The Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline’s regulation then names the arrangement among its enumerated unprofessional conduct: PAYMENT OF A FEE by a physician to another physician who referred the patient, unless the fee is in proportion to work actually performed by the referring physician, and willful failure to disclose to a patient that a referring physician holds a financial interest in an outside ancillary testing or treatment facility.
The term "professional corporation" means a corporation which is organized and incorporated, under this chapter, for the sole and specific purpose of rendering a single professional service or qualified related professional services, and which has as its shareholders only individuals who themselves are duly licensed or otherwise legally authorized within this State to render the same professional service, or those component qualified related professional services, as the corporation.
8 Del. C. §603(2) · verified Sep 3, 2026
The term "qualified related professional services" means, and is limited to, any combination of the practice of medicine by doctors of medicine or doctors of osteopathy or both, and the practice of podiatry by doctors of podiatric medicine.
8 Del. C. §603(3) · verified Sep 3, 2026
Nothing contained in this chapter shall be interpreted to abolish, repeal, modify, restrict or limit the law now in effect in this State, applicable to the professional relationship and the contract, tort, and other legal liabilities between the person furnishing the professional service and the person receiving the professional service, and to the standards for professional conduct.
8 Del. C. §608 · verified Sep 3, 2026
Delaware’s fee-splitting rule sits among the Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline’s enumerated unprofessional conduct: 8.1.9 Payment of a fee by a physician to another physician who has referred the patient to him, unless the fee is in proportion to work actually performed by the referring physician.
24 Del. Admin. Code § 1700-8.1.9 (Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline — unprofessional conduct: payment of a fee to a referring physician) · verified Sep 7, 2026
8.1.10 Willful failure to disclose to a patient that a referring physician has the financial interest in an ancillary testing or treatment facility outside of the physician's office.
24 Del. Admin. Code § 1700-8.1.10 (unprofessional conduct: undisclosed financial interest of a referring physician) · verified Sep 7, 2026
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